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Book Review: Thoughts on The Twilight Series

Well, I just can't have a book blog with so many young adult and paranormal books without including the Twilight series. Yes, we've read them (Natalie and I), yes, we've watched the movies and fully approve of Robert Pattinson, and yes, we're anxiously awaiting the release of Eclipse in June. Yes, we realize that the Twilight series is not a fantastic work of timeless literature (compared to, say, Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth). It is, however, a love story that appeals to hopeless romantics (which we totally are).

I have to give Stephenie Meyer credit for writing such an engaging series. Both Natalie and I sped through these books---I read them all in four days. I also applaud Meyer for writing a YA series that keeps things at an appropriate YA level (unlike The House of Night, for example).

I understand that a lot of Twilight haters take umbrage with the ending of Breaking Dawn. We do concede that Stephenie Meyer likes her endings all wrapped up. No, she likes her endings professionally wrapped with invisible tape, a color-coordinated bow and trinket on top!

Reading the Twilight series got us into the paranormal genre, and also got us into YA books. Funny that two twenty-somethings would be so into a genre meant for teens. Call us dorks, but we love YA! This was a much-needed change of pace for me, as I was kind of stuck in the thriller world of James Patterson, David Baldacci and the like. There's just something different about books whose authors are women. We've noticed that our favorite YA and paranormal books are all written by women. I think it's because a woman takes things to an emotional depth that a male author just cannot or does not.

At any rate, we are fans of Twilight, but not to the exclusion of everything else. We realize that a lot of people hate Twilight and do not wish to alienate them on this blog. If you aren't a Twilight fan and haven't read the books because of all the hoopla surrounding the franchise, know that in the middle of all the craziness lies a really good, sweet, every-woman's-secret-fantasy love story. At least, that's what we think!